It only takes one person’s moment of greed to poison the lives of countless others. This isn’t to suggest that individuals aren’t in control of their choices, but, if one ascribes to Chaos Theory, there’s a strong inclination that our choices are merely reactions to someone else’s. Thus, if we can pin-point at least one choice made by someone else, we can see the ripple affect it has elsewhere in our home, our neighborhood, and, yes, even our city. Adapted from William P. McGivern’s Saturday Even Post serial by Sydney Boehm (When Worlds Collide) and directed by Fritz Lang (M; Scarlet Street), the 1953 crime thriller The Big Heat joins The Criterion Collection with a brand-new 4K UHD restoration, audio commentary track, visual essay, and a small gathering of other archival bonus materials. If one hasn’t experienced the tragedy of The Big Heat, now is a great opportunity to do so.
A scene from Fritz Lang’s THE BIG HEAT. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
In an unnamed city, a police officer commits suicide, shooting himself in the head and leaving a closed envelope with his reasoning. Sergeant Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) picks up the case, believing it to be open and shut due to all the evidence that this is what it appears to be. That is, until a mystery woman, Lucy Chapman (Dorothy Green), plants a seed of doubt in his mind, a seed that only grows with each denial from every person who seems to want the case put to bed, a looming doubt that points straight toward criminal boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby). When things get personal for Dave, the temperature on the case hits a hard boil and there’s going to be no stopping justice from raining down.
What follows is based on a retail copy of The Big Heat provided by Criterion.
L-R: Gloria Grahame as Debby Marsh and Lee Marvin as Vince Stone in THE BIG HEAT. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
With this being a first-time addition to Criterion and a significant release for Lang, Ford, and the large female cast of The Big Heat, it’s a bit of a let-down that the packaging is a standard hard plastic case versus something with a little more flair. The cover art, newly-designed by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde, is mostly black featuring Ford’s Dave in profile from the waist up with Gloria Grahame’s Debby Marsh positioned facing the opposite direction and only her face, the bandages that adorn her left-side in the latter part of the film barely visible. Beneath them are their names, the title of the film, Lang’s name, and a small pot of coffee with steam rising up between Dave and Debby. The back cover includes the usual film summary, feature information, and edition details, as well as a glimpse of the victim’s badge, gun, and letter. The inside cover carries over the noir feel with all black on the left side and mostly black on the right, the two-discs of the 4K UHD edition (one 4K UHD, one Blu-ray) in an overlay holder positioned over a photo of Debby in repose.
The bonus materials are the usual mix of new and archived. The new is represented by the booklet (foldout style with new essay from author Jonathan Lethem, restoration information, and release information), a 28-minute visual essay from critic Farran Smith Nehme, and an audio commentary track from film-noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini, as well as the restoration itself (4K UHD on the 4K disc; 4K HD on the Blu-ray). The archived is represented by two audio interviews with Lang (one with film historian Gideon Bachmann in 1956; one with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich in 1965); an interview with filmmaker Michael Mann (Heat; Collateral); an interview with filmmaker Martin Scorsese (The Color of Money; Bringing Out the Dead); and a trailer for the film. If this edition represents a first-time watch for you, make sure to watch Nehme’s essay upon completion. The focus is on the women in The Big Heat and it may reshape how you engage with the film during your post-watch afterglow. The film itself is tight, layered, and instantly engaging, balancing a number of tones at once, and Nehme’s essay wonderfully articulates how the presentation of and performances by the women in the cast raise the stakes (and Ford’s game) at near every opportunity. It may be Ford’s Dave who we follow, but it’s Jeanette Nolan’s Bertha Duncan who sets everything in motion, Grahame’s Marsh that presents an opportunity for justice, and Joscelyn Brando’s Katie Bannion whose absence represents the cynicism inherent in film noir. And this doesn’t even get into the significant contributions from cast members Green or Edith Evanson (Citizen Kane; Rope). Nehme does, however, in incredible detail.
The central element, however, and the reason you’re likely checking this out, is to determine whether or not the restoration is worth the investment. There’s lot of good news here. First, according to the booklet, Sony Pictures Entertainment (this is a Columbia Pictures release) created the 4K digital restoration using both the 35 mm original camera negative and a 35 mm fine-grain master positive. Second, the uncompressed monaural soundtrack included with this edition was remastered from the original 35 mm magnetic track. The booklet also confirms the prior statement that the 4K UHD disc offers Dolby Vision HDR and the Blu-ray high-definition SDR (standard dynamic range). On paper, this sounds great (and considering that not all boutique releases include restoration information, this is a boon to know) and, thankfully, the technical presentation lives up to this as the bitrate for the 4K UHD edition rests around mid-80 Mbps with a few dips into the 60s. A Blu-ray maxes at 40 Mbps, so while this presentation doesn’t hit the max for a 4K UHD disc, it still hovers around twice the maximum bitrate of a Blu-ray. Like other black-and-white pictures before it, the restoration of The Big Heat possesses more refined details thanks to sharper images and a more detailed grey scale. The Big Heat may be monochrome, but that doesn’t mean that it lacks shades of color on the grey scale and the increased sharpness of the picture enables the audience to delineate objects more easily. The introduction of Debby in all white reclining on a black couch, for example, now clearly show the lines and indentations of the upholstery. While there is noticeable grain, there is no artifacting, hints of frame wear, or other clues of aging. The same can be said of the audio which is absent any distortion or distress, allowing the dialogue to come through clearly and the score to hit the audience in just the right way to bring out the emotional heft called upon for the moment in the narrative.
It’s worth noting that the bonus features (save for the new audio commentary) are entirely housed on the Blu-ray, which affords the 4K UHD edition a lot of space to reduce the need for compression of the video and audio elements compared to 4K UHD editions that also house the bonus features on the same disc as the film. More current features should really follow this practice as it would only improve the on-disc presentation of any 4K UHD title.
When the announcement from Criterion came down about this title and I read the opening description — “Noir doesn’t get any more hard-boiled than this scorching tale of vice and retribution…” — an expectation of something dark and cruel hit me. That’s not usually my beat, but, intrigued nonetheless, I put in for it and found myself significantly into the run time, wondering when it would start to meet this description. From the opening, The Big Heat is lead by death and deception, the suicide and its meaning covered up by the victim’s wife, leading to less-than-moral individuals putting their lives on the line in order to expose the truth, inspiring Dave to push further for the truth. One expects bodies to drop in this tale that opens like any other police procedural, even going so far as to make it clear that Dave may be the last honest cop on his force, instilling a chilling isolation in the character, but none of what was described yet fit what played through Lang’s film. Until it does. From that moment on, it’s as though the heart has been removed and all that remains is anger and resentment, powered entirely by the fatalism we now recognize as the initial choice to hide the reason for the suicide. The cruel inevitability makes all that follows something that we must accept because this is now a world devoid of hope and barely holding on to something resembling a conscience. Though the final moments of the film imply a return to normalcy, as close as the victims of this tale can, there’s no recovering entirely as the victims cannot be restored in full. There are either too many shards lost to the violence of corruption and greed or the players have been put to rest for good.
L-R: Dorothy Green as Lucy Chapman and Glenn Ford as Sergeant Dave Bannion in THE BIG HEAT. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
While other home reviews have not worked so hard to avoid spoilers, even at 72 years past initial release, the Big Heat is worth seeing with as fresh eyes as possible. But when I tell you that I audibly cursed this film upon recognizing the tell-tale pattern of upcoming tragedy, it’s because the performances are so strong that, for even the briefest of moments, there’s a sense that justice can come without spilling the blood of the innocent. Doing so, however, ensures that there’s really only one way for this story to end, and it’s because of the stupidity of violent men.
L-R: Jocelyn Brando as Katie Bannion and Glenn Ford
Sergeant Dave Bannion in THE BIG HEAT. Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection.
The Big Heat marks the fourth solo Fritz Lang title The Criterion Collection has added to their ranks, joining M (1931), Ministry of Fear (1944), and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933). If you’re considering this as your entry point into Lang’s work, this feels like an easy recommendation to make. The packaging is simple (somewhat understated), the booklet atypical, the bonus features boost the already moving picture, and the restoration impresses. If concern over the price looms, be advised that the bi-annual 50% sale at Barnes & Noble is taking place at the time of this writing, so you can pick this up for $19.99-24.99 depending on the format you select. Pick it up now or later — you won’t regret it.
The Big Heat Special Features:
- *NEW* 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- *NEW* audio commentary by film-noir experts Alain Silver and James Ursini
- *NEW* video essay by critic Farran Smith Nehme on the women in the film (28:13)
- Audio interviews with director Fritz Lang, conducted by film historian Gideon Bachmann and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
- Interviews with filmmakers Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Jonathan Lethem
- *NEW* cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde
Available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray July 1st, 2025.
For more information, head to the official The Criterion Collection The Big Heat webpage.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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